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Topic: Tented vias in Eagle (Read 4515 times)

I've been trying for quite a while to figure this out, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious way to make tented vias in Eagle. I'm aware that you can change it in the design rules but I only want to make some of the vias tented and leave the others uncovered. Apparently changing stop to on in the via properties will make them tented, but after inspecting the tStop layer they still appear to be masked. Is this possible to do in Eagle to only a selection of vias with drill holes > 0?

For those holes you want tented, can you change their property so that the drill is less than the value for "Limit" in the "Masks" tab under DRC? For example, set the Limit to 17mil. For those holes you want tented, set the drill size in their property menu to 15mil. For those you don't want tented, set the drill size to 18mil and those holes will be stopped.

I'd recommend setting the limit as required, and explicitly enabling "stop" where required in the properties. I do this when I've added a via very close to an SMT pad and I'm worried about the mask registration.

Yeah, I don't think there is a way of uncovering every via per design rule and adding solder mask for single vias afterwards. You have to do it the other way round: Tenting every via per design rule and "un-tent" the vias you want to leave uncovered.

You could add an additional stop mask layer and "draw" the tents manually, although i don't know if that is even possible since mask layers are negative. This adds a lot of potential for screw-up in production and production data generation Either by you or by your fab.

It's easy to tent all the vias (below a certain size) using DRC limits, and then right click on the vias you want un-tented and check the Stop box.

You can also select all the vias with a Group command, then select the Change command and choose Stop>On, and then ctrl-right-click to apply stop to every via. Then you can go pick the vias you want tented and uncheck their Stop boxes, or use the Change command with Stop>Off to single click each via you want untented.

So...there is totally a (sorta) easy way to do exactly what you want in Eagle.